Caught
by dabih
Summary: Where are Hermione and Fred? Two-shot.
1. Part 1

A constant in the Gryffindor Common Room, as always, was the abundance of people crowding it at all hours of the day. At night, _maybe_ the younger students would have waded out towards their dormitory, but nearly everyone in their third year and onwards was still in the Common Room by 10:00 (an hour past Hogwarts curfew). This meant for a very high noise level, a combination of laughter, conversation, arguments, and (in the case of those who were especially mischievous) explosions. The few who weren't in the Common Room at this time were either: A, running amok in the castle, possibly wreaking havoc, B, studying in their dormitory, having found the various sounds to be hindering their productivity, or C, sleeping. There was no in between.

Despite her studious nature and inclination to fall into the B category, Hermione Granger was usually still in the Common Room at this hour due to the nagging of her best friends (mostly Ron).

Now, make no mistake, Harry Potter had never considered himself to be the _most_ observant person – some would say he was completely oblivious (though he would argue that was going a bit far). To his credit, he had noticed many important details over the years – just he had never been the _first_ to notice. On this particular occasion, however, something was clearly amiss, and it was glaringly obvious to even the most oblivious of persons – that is to say, Harry.

The "something" that had been amiss was that Hermione was nowhere to be found. It was easy to assume that maybe she had simply went to sleep early, but that assumption had been disproved when Ginny had bounced down the girls' staircase, wondering where Hermione was.

Ginny, Harry, and Ron pondered this for a moment. Hermione had returned with them from the DA meeting. Sometime between then and now she had quietly slipped away to wherever. But where could she be? It was true that her affinity for the rules had diminished quite a bit lately (the blame here falls mostly on their foul authority figure, Dolores Umbridge), but she probably wouldn't be out after curfew, especially with tensions running so high. Ron reasoned that possibly she had just fallen asleep in the library, which was certainly plausible. The issue was dismissed after this. Harry just hoped she would wake up before she was found and incriminated.

Another issue arose a few minutes later when George appeared with questions about Fred's whereabouts. This was a truly odd question because, well –

" _You're_ his twin," said Ron. " _You're_ the one who should know." This was true. If anyone was supposed to know where Fred was, it was George. Ninety nine percent of the time they were together, anyways, there shouldn't have been much opportunity for George to loose Fred. George explained that Fred had been acting "dodgy" earlier and then, as George had turned around for a moment, his twin had disappeared.

An idea struck, "The map," Harry said, only just remembering he had a certain asset that could definitely help them find their friends. He reached into his pocket to retrieve the wasted away piece of parchment, which George gazed upon fondly, and activated it. It took the assembled group a moment to locate the missing people. The reason for this had been that they were searching in different places for the two but, surprisingly, Fred and Hermione were _together_. Somewhere on the fifth floor, in fact.

The group exchanged suspicious looks. They hadn't realized Fred and Hermione were close enough friends to be out wreaking havoc together. The majority of their interactions consisted of Hermione telling Fred off or passing conversations at The Burrow or Grimmauld Place. They had no idea there was anything beyond that.

Soon they were out of the Common Room and following the dots, which hadn't moved for a while. They were shocked to find that Fred and Hermione were located inside what was, evidently, _a broom cupboard_.

Shocked, the group swapped meaningful looks. At this point, there were mixed feelings throughout the group. Ginny wanted to nosily carry on. This could possibly be teasing material for both of the parties involved for years to come. Excitement bubbled in George, also, for the prospect of teasing his twin about his newfound relationship constantly. Harry was just plain confused. And, typically, betrayed feelings were boiling inside Ron, directed at both Hermione and Fred.

As muffled noises sounded from inside of the broom cupboard, which was a combination of moans and laughter, anger erupted within Ron and he rushed forward to open the broom cupboard, revealing the entangled couple – mid-snog. Fred's hands were hidden somewhere up Hermione's blouse, and he was grinning through the kiss. Hermione's arms were wrapped around his neck and her fingers were caught within his red hair.

The second they realized they had been exposed, they sprang apart – Fred's cheeks were tinted red and Hermione's would surely have been as well if her complexion was any lighter. Hermione wiped at her mouth, as if trying to erase the memory of the kiss. It was too late, however. The damage was done.

They had been caught.


	2. Part 2

A constant in the whirlwind that had been Fred and Hermione's relationship had always been to be as stealthy as possible. They couldn't afford to be found out about their strange affinity towards each other. For one, there was Ron, who would no doubt be beside himself with both anger and hurt. For another, they were two completely different people and it would no doubt upset many dynamics if they were to be open about their relationship. Besides, it was barely a relationship – it was more like an _arrangement_. If anyone were to find out, there would be ridicule. So, they kept the feelings to a minimum. That way it would be easier to disband the arrangement at the sign of trouble, and no body would get hurt (including Ron).

Except, lately, it was getting more and more difficult to keep feelings out of the arrangement.

Hermione found herself looking forward to Fred's company in their meetings every week. He listened to her more than anyone else. And he was simply fun to talk to. In the moments when they weren't snogging, they were laughing. It was just easy to hold a conversation with him. Hermione didn't feel like she had to hide anything, despite the differences in their personalities. And Fred, too, found himself becoming slowly infatuated with Hermione.

This was why, completely off schedule (which was another important aspect of keeping their relationship under wraps), they had met up that day on which they had been caught. Just after their DA meeting, Fred had tugged on Hermione's arm, dragging her away from Harry and Ron stealthily. Or, perhaps not very stealthily, but the boys were just extraordinarily oblivious.

"Huh? Fred?" Hermione had asked, confused but delighted at the sudden attention.

Kissing her briefly, he said, "Meet me in the broom cupboard on the fifth floor later. After curfew." With one more, chaste kiss, he was gone, leaving Hermione excitedly wanting much more than a few teasing pecks. The next half hour for Hermione was spent in this same state of anticipation. After freshening up accordingly, she was off to wait for Fred.

When he arrived, she grabbed onto him. They could have been wrapped up with each other for could have been forever, but it still felt like half a second. Heartbeat speeding and butterflies racing within her, she wanted an infinite about of time to spend with him. She never wanted to let go.

The door flying open _forced_ her to let go.

Suddenly, Ron, George, Ginny, and Harry were staring at them. The abrupt exposure left her feeling naked and uncomfortable. One look at Fred told her he was feeling the same – if the redness on his face was anything to go by. Smirks for forming on George and Ginny's faces and she propelled into explanation. Fred must have seen the growing grins, because he started speaking at the same time.

"It's not what it looks like!" they said in unison. As eyebrows rose on their friends' faces, Hermione continued. "We were just – er –"

" _Snogging_ ," Ron interjected, in one of the coldest voices he had ever used towards her (which was saying something). He spluttered for a moment, seemingly having trouble forming words that would express his feelings. "Why?" he asked, settling on this after the struggle. Hermione's heart reached out to him – one of his biggest insecurities had always been to be overshadowed by his brothers. To find out the girl he fancied was snogging his older brother – she couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

"The better question is – how?" said Ginny.

Fred, the flush on his face having reduced to a light pink, smirked. "The way you sound so interested bothers me." Though Hermione hardly thought this was the time for joking, she privately agreed. And she also considered this to be a good attempt at steering the topic of the conversation away from how they had ended up in a secret relationship. It had been a long time coming, however it may seem to be the contrary.

Their friendship had truly begun in Hermione's third year, when both Harry and Ron had been snubbing her. Fred had discovered her crying late at night in the Common Room, returning from doing something undoubtedly questionable. The unexpected occurred – as Hermione rushed to hide her cries and escape to her dormitory, he stopped her and asked her what was wrong. Just the sentiment was enough to drive her into tears again. Surprising her once more, Fred comforted her. From then on, they maintained somewhat caring feelings for each other.

In Hermione's fourth year, this friendship had expanded from their close quarters at the Quidditch World Cup. As Hermione was in hysterics worrying over Harry, he was there to comfort her again. And when Ron had crushed Hermione's spirits at the Yule Ball, Fred had been the one to console her again. At this point, their friendship consisted of mostly a crying Hermione and a supportive Fred.

It was during their summer at Grimmauld Place that really marked the beginning of it all.

They bonded over a combined desire to learn about the Order. On many occasions, Hermione pooled her knowledge with the twins to help them with their products (mostly the Extendable Ears, as she disagreed rather wholeheartedly with the purpose of the Skiving Snackboxes). And when Hermione had been distressed over Harry's trial, Fred comforted her – except this time, they had kissed.

At first they had attempted to suppress their sudden passion, but eventually it proved too difficult. Thus they decided on a secret relationship, for the sake of Ron. Nearly every day in the summer they had sneaked away to snog, and nearly every day they found new ways to escape exposure. Once they had arrived at school, they had at first tried to stop their relationship. When this failed again, they decided on meeting up once a week, to avoid being caught if they escapades became too irregular.

They should have known that if they broke the schedule, something like this would happen. Or, at least, Hermione felt _she_ should have.

"Seriously, how did this happen?" As it turns out, Ginny was more persistent that Hermione had counted for (another thing she probably should have known).

"Well," Hermione said reluctantly, biting her lip, "it began over the summer holidays –"

"The _summer_!" said Ron loudly, his anger tinged with disbelief.

"How did you keep this from us for so long?" Ginny asked, amazed. "Surely we should have noticed by now."

Fred smirked. "We thought so too, but you're rather unobservant."

"Git," said George, rolling his eyes.

Ron, visibly put out by the light mood, scowled at his companions and then at Fred and Hermione. The others seemed to get the message and backed away accordingly. Fred and Hermione were unfortunately cornered by the broom cupboard (Hermione was longingly thinking about how moments before she had been happily absorbed in bliss – but she knew it was about time they confronted this issue) and could not move. A hand she recognized as Fred's reached up to the small of her back, acting seemingly out of instinct. Unfortunately, Ron saw the movement and became, impossibly, more horrified.

"Get your hands _off_ her," Ron snapped. Eyebrows rising, Fred reluctantly moved his hand back down to his side. It left a cold imprint on Hermione's back and she missed the small but noticeable comfort. She longed to grab Fred's hand, but she knew the action would not be well received by Ron.

"Ron," she started, feeling anger slowly heating up her face and urging her pulse forward, "I'm sorry but you and I are not in a relationship, so you truly have _no right_ to act as though you have control over who I _choose_ to snog or not."

Fred looked vaguely impressed with her outburst, spouting a burst of pride in her stomach.

Ron once again appeared to be struggling to find words. "I – I…But –" He huffed. After a few more stress filled minutes of Ron staring, betrayal clear in his eyes, he stormed away. Harry tried to go after him, but he was roughly shrugged off.

"I guess he just needs some time to cool down." Harry sighed. "I think he's just surprised you know?"

Hermione understood. After years of expecting to be with Ron, it was odd to accept that it most likely wouldn't happen. However much she was sure a lot of it had to do with anger and jealousy, things would get better. They always did with Ron. Despite how many times they had fought over the years, their friendship had always prevailed. She just hoped this time would be the same.

And, on the bright side, she and Fred were free to be together. Openly. Turning to look at Fred, Hermione was met with a blinding grin. He had probably realized the same thing. His hand enclosed hers, and it was impossible to suppress her smile. Laughing, he kissed her cheek and she thought that maybe, just _maybe_ , being caught wasn't all that bad.


End file.
